Saturday, October 20, 2007

ALBANY, Oct. 17 — Millions of people have paused to stand amid the hustle, bustle and neon of Times Square.

And sure, those who pause — to gawk, talk or eat a gyro — can slow the progress of pedestrians around them.

But when Matthew Jones of Brooklyn lingered on the corner of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue in the early morning of June 12, 2004, gabbing with friends as other pedestrians tried to get by, something unusual happened: He was arrested for it.

The kicker to the piece is quite amusing:

The court is likely to rule on the case next month. Should it rule against Mr. Jones, the available evidence on the scene on Wednesday suggested that the police would soon have their hands full.

Just before 5 p.m., near the corner where Mr. Jones was arrested, stood the following assemblage: a man eating clams out of a Styrofoam container; two men smoking cigarettes together; a man waiting for a woman to finish a phone call; a guy looking at a map; a young woman sending a text message; two men handing out tour brochures; and a family of five, including an infant in a stroller, who stopped to look at the brochures.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Whenever you visit a game park, you're always told to keep a safe distance from the animals and/or to stay in your car. I guess slightly more graphic measures are needed for these walk-through animal farms.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO, a man was hanged for murder after police used new technology to nab him. Now new technology has shown that the wrong man was executed as the body found in his cellar was not that of his wife.

Dr Hawley Crippen was hanged in 1910, after an Old Bailey jury found him guilty of murdering his wife, Cora, who had vanished earlier that year.

After friends of his wife reported their fears that missing Cora had been murdered, Crippen and his mistress headed for Belgium before boarding a ship bound for Canada. They were disguised as father and son, but the ship's captain became suspicious and alerted police using the newly invented wireless telegraph.

But DNA evidence now shows that a dismembered body found at Crippen's London house was not that of his wife, reports The Manchester Grauniad.

Using a sample kept at the Royal London Hospital, American forensic scientists compared mitochondrial DNA from the remains presented at the trial with samples taken from Cora Crippen's surviving relatives.

Dr David Foran, head of forensic science programme at Michigan State University, told the Grauniad:. "That body cannot be Cora Crippen, we're certain of that."

Before he was hanged, Crippen wrote: "I am innocent and some day evidence will be found to prove it." µ

[thank you coolest-of-all-sites The Smoking Gun!Microsoft boss Bill Gates was photographed by the Albuquerque, New Mexico police in 1977 after a traffic violation (details of which have been lost over time).]

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I got an official warning from my bank I usually pay my rent as "Columbian Drug Money", they never objected but then I forgot my mates cell phone number, we were both doing internet banking at the same time right welcome to my room so I give him a 1 cent payment going "What's your number" and we start having this whole conversation it was like webchat so like 87 payments later, the bank rings me up and were like "have you thought of getting MSN?"